Let's Plant a Seed!

Noah Sussman and Jacob Shaw came up to me with seeds that they found. We decided to find some shovels and plant the seeds in our new dirt bed. The shovels were heavy and made of real metal and it was nice to see the group work with real tools and work together to plant the seeds.
 Many seeds got planted and we will seeds were planted and we will see what happens! 

The Ants Go Marching One by One.....

This morning during early morning drop off Teddy Freidman and I found an Ant! We were quite excited about our new friend so we put it in a cage and put in some dirt so it could have a temporary indoor home. Unfortunately it escaped and when another early drop off friend became scared it got stepped on. So this meant that we had to have an "ant funeral." We went outside and were joined by our friends as they were arriving to school. We had a quick funeral ceremony which included a rousing edition of, "The Ants go Marching" and then decided that we had to go on an "Ant Hunt" to find more ants. We dug in the dirt but there were no ants or bugs in sight! The kids all started to ask to go into the woods to see if we would have more luck beyond the playground. We compromised and went to the area by the playground and searched for a bit there. Soon Max found a stump that was covered in ants! We looked at them and decided that was an ant colony that must live inside. We put a few of them in our container to observe and then let them out at the end of outdoor time. It was neat to see how one little ant could inspire so much create play. Because of this one little ant we had kids from multiple classes working together to grapple with nature and to examine animal behavior. By the end of the morning we had many kids who had all learned that it's important to be kind to all animals, even if they are just an itty-bitty ant.

Imaginations gone wild

Jared, Drew, Max and I played in the woods during Tuesday lunch bunch. While in the woods the tree boys came up with so many imaginative games. it was neat to see how they used the surrounding natural materials as props and backdrops to stories that they created. Max found a stick that became a shofar! Jared decided to go camping, fishing, and planted a forrest! When Jared planted the forrest he found that the dirt was softer in different places so we found a soft spot to put sticks in the ground to "plant trees." Drew loved climbing up and down the log and practicing his balancing skills. Being in nature allows children to develop physically and well as socially all while exercising their imaginations.

Worms, Worms, Worms!

The Tel Aviv class had a big surprise in the sensory table today..WORMS! The class was intrigued but the fact that there were real worms in the table. This past fall, many of the children enjoyed finding worms on the playground but we had never had so many in the classroom before. Right after circle, the class gathered around the table and looked inside. Eliza was the first to reach in and everyone watched as she picked up a worm. Most were timid to touch and hold the worms but a few kids were excited to touch the worm with one finger. After one finger they decided to hold a worm and soon they were putting worms all over each others arms! Jacob and Rachel played with the worms for a long time. They named and talked to the worms which was quite adorable. I am excited that everyone is warming up to our new class pets and tomorrow we will get to learn more about our new pets for our special Tel Aviv Dirt Day!